About Me

I am a Marine Corps veteran, songwriter, and, in a not-so-sudden and overly dramatized turn of events, have recently returned to my youthful pursuit of history education and aspirant authorship. I like gardening, serving the community, and watching slow artsy movies. As always I continue to take pleasure in crafting small, detailed, delicate things with my dexterous hands.

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Monday, September 17, 2012

Monday Musical Madness

As they say in Utah, oh my heck! The show at Urban Lounge was easily our best yet, owing much to a greatly improved violin rig and a deft setup by the house's sound man. In case you were wondering, our fiddler used the pickup I got in Tucson and played through our drummer's amp, which was miked along with everything else and fed through the house PA. Other factors contributing to the high quality of the sound included miking the drums (the kick in particular), and the best monitor setup we've played through yet. Every member of the band had their own dedicated monitor wedge, and the engineer made specific mixes for each of us. For example: the drums and bass had mostly each other in their respective monitors, the makings of a tight rhythm section, while I had a little bit of everything and a lot of my own mic. I can't stress enough how great the sound was on stage; pretty much every other show I've played has found me straining to hear the band, and especially my place in it. In the past I haven't been able to hear my voice, resulting in my pushing it too far, hurting my throat and the audience's ears. Thank you so much, Urban Lounge, for your professional stage and sound!

We weren't the only ones who benefited from the exceptional audio. The bluesy band that followed us, Candy's River House, sounded just like the gun-slinging pros that they are. The Wild Ones, seeming to disregard the owner/soundman's concerns about recent noise complaints and excessive stage volume, blasted the crowd with a sonic assault more evocative of a festival or stadium than a nightclub. The next group was an amalgamation of recent transplant Ammon Waters, who was releasing a single, and The Red on Black, and they sounded great as well. Everyone involved had a good time, sounded great, and even got a little bit of pay.

While I am beginning my job search in earnest today, I am also going to continue working on my home recoding projects. Last week, on the eleventh anniversary of "9/11", I recorded and posted some of my songs relating to my military experience. There are several more, and I'd like to get them polished to a high sonic sheen, with hopes of releasing them this coming Veterans Day in November. Also in the works is a bumping, thumping, sardonic punk song to be performed with The Wild Ones' energetically bad-ass singer. Stay tuned for a demo!